


with all my foolish ways

by drunkybuddha



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-01
Updated: 2014-03-01
Packaged: 2018-01-14 03:24:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1250965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunkybuddha/pseuds/drunkybuddha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry’s pretty sure he can woo Niall. He even has a carefully thought out plan, complete with numbers, puns and a hastily written song.</p>
            </blockquote>





	with all my foolish ways

Harry wasn’t quite sure when it started.

It snuck up on him. When he was trying to sound deep or wise, he always said it was like falling in quicksand and not realising until you were up to your neck.

Yup, Harry was pretty sure he loved Niall.

Like _love_ loved.

Because of course he loved all his boys. He just didn’t want to make out with them until his lips fell off. Or you know, use his lips for other things until they fell off.

He hadn’t always been attracted to Niall, not by a long shot, but somehow over the last six months Niall had blossomed (which sounded cheesy but Harry couldn’t think of a better word) into a man.

With arms and abs and chest hair.

The chest hair was the worst part. Niall wore it like a badge of honour and it seemed with every extra follicle he gained, his confidence grew. Now he seemed to strut around, lapping up the attention.

It was so hot but it was also really driving Harry round the bend. 

—

“He’s just so cute,” Harry moaned, rather pathetically, into the couch cushion. He was sprawled on Nick’s couch, hungover and heartbroken. One foot dangled loosely off the edge of the couch, but Harry was in no state to rearrange himself.

Nick glanced up from his phone. “He’s not that cute,” he replied, in a patient tone. “Honestly I think you’re just hung over and it’s messing with your head.”

Harry’s head shot up violently.

“You are crazy Nicholas. Have you seen his face? Or his arms? Or his-“

“Enough,” Nick snapped, in a tone that Harry thought was unnecessarily harsh. “Just talk to him, if you really think it’s love.” Nick obviously didn’t think it was, but then he was almost thirty and single so Harry felt perfectly fine about dismissing his opinion.

The effort required to keep his head up was exhausting though, so Harry let it drop back into the cushion. “I can’t just talk to him,” Harry mumbled into the fabric. “I…I need to woo him!”

Although he had just thought of it, the idea of wooing Niall had Harry’s head spinning. It was perfect. The possibilities were endless. He could buy Niall flowers! He could write him a song! Or craft a clay vase for Niall to display in his house!

Full of energy now, Harry wriggled around so he was flopped on his back.

“Nick, you have to help me plan.”

Nick just sighed. It was the sigh of someone who could see disaster coming but was helpless to stop it.

“I’ll make some tea then, shall I?”

 

—

 

In the end Nick had been absolutely no use in helping Harry plan. He had sat on his useless arse, laughing every time Harry tried to bounce ideas off him. Eventually though, Harry came up with a fool proof plan which he then dutifully recorded in his trusty notebook.

Step one was simple. Or at least it sounded simple. 

Make Niall laugh.

Niall was always laughing, which was why step one sounded simple. He could always be counted on to giggle at Harry’s (very unappreciated) puns. But the thing was Niall had two types of laughter.

There was his usual, carefree, easy, sunshine laughter which bubbled out easily enough. It was a nice sound, and Harry never tired of hearing it

But then there was his scrunchy faced, belly laugh. Niall’s whole body would shake with the force of it. The sound was harder to get out of Niall but it was worth it. It made Harry’s toes curl and his stomach flutter.

It was the best sound in the world.

So for a week Harry took every opportunity he could to make Niall laugh.

He danced around backstage like an absolute idiot, grinding up behind the poor body guards. That had earned him an eye roll and giggle. Which wasn’t enough so Harry crossed _stupid dancing_ off his list.

Next he tried something a bit different. Pranks weren’t really his thing but surely being around Louis for two years would have rubbed off. 

The sight of Harry covered in flour had definitely made Niall laugh but it was hard to enjoy it when all Harry wanted to do was become a mole and bury himself.

Finally Harry was forced to pull out the big guns.

A pun.

An Irish pun.

He had it perfectly memorised because he wasn’t prepared to take any risks. Harry made sure to pick the perfect moment as well.

Niall was sprawled out on a couch backstage, thumbing through his phone. He was wearing his usual trackpants and a singlet that showed of his arms and his chest hair and fuck Harry could feel his already tight jeans somehow managing to feel tighter. 

Attempting to will away the embarrassing evidence of his desperate need, Harry plonked himself down next to Niall.

He made sure not to sit too close though. 

"What’s up?" Niall asked, throwing his phone on the couch and turning to face Harry.

"I’ve got a joke for you," Harry said, smiling widely.

Niall just raised his eyebrows, in a kind of challenging way,

"What might you catch if you kiss an Irish rockstar?"

Niall's lips curled up into a smile. He obviously already liked the direction of the joke. "What?" he replied, sounding rather cocky. As if the joke was about him.

 

"Bono."

 

Niall's entire body started to shake with laughter. His head lolled back against the couch and his laugh was his second laugh. Deep and throaty, it was music to Harry's ears.

Harry's smile grew even wider. 

"Thought you'd appreciate it," Harry said, his insides buzzing.

Step one complete.

\--

Step two was only a challenge because Harry needed to hold himself back from saying too much.

Step two was showering Niall in compliments. It was a fine line though, because Harry wanted to be subtle but he wanted Niall to pick up on what he was trying to put down.

Because he was trying to be methodical Harry had written down everything he admired about Niall. It quickly became a very long (and sometimes inappropriate) list. So in order to restrain himself, Harry decided there could be only be one compliment a day. He also crossed off _your bulge is eye catchingly large_ and _your chest looks very lickable_. 

The first few times Harry had made a point of praising Niall, more so than usual, he hadn't taken it too well. He had blushed, a beautiful deep red colour, and looked away. 

So Harry decided to stop complimenting Niall in front of the others. He waited until it was just the two of them to talk about how good Niall sounded that day, or how his workouts were obviously doing something.

It actually worked better. Harry got to see Niall smile just for him, a smile that Harry himself had caused, and he horded the memories like precious gold.

Harry knew step two was complete the day he told Niall he was probably the best looking one in the band - in a joking tone of course - and Niall just shrugged and grinned. 

\--

Step three actually was easy, because it was increase contact, and Harry and Niall already had a very affectionate relationship.

It started off small. An extra shoulder pat here and there, bumping into Niall more often. 

Harry made sure he was always sitting to Niall. During dinner. In band meetings. On the plane.

And he took to leaning against Niall whenever he could. Harry would yawn and snuggle into Niall's shoulder. If it was a good day (which started to happen more often) then Niall would swing his arm around Harry. Then Harry got to spend a few minutes breathing in Niall's smell, which managed to be clean and boyish at the same time. 

That's what really gave Harry hope. The fact that Niall didn't seem to mind. In fact Harry secretly thought that Niall actually started to look for him. One day Niall actually made Liam slide away so Harry could slot in between them. Harry didn't know whether to cry or come in his pants. 

\--

Step four was scary.

Step four was giving Niall the song. 

It sounded so lame but it had just come to Harry one day. Normally songwriting for Harry involved a very specific set of rituals but this one had flowed out so easily. The words reminded Harry of sunshine. Which really was perfect for a song about Niall.

His palms were sweaty the day he decided to give Niall the words so he could read them. Would it be too much? Nick said it was. 

Harry was going to be brave though. He couldn't keep it bottled up any longer.

He found Niall lying on his bed, even though it was two in the afternoon. Harry sat himself down on the end, making sure to avoid sitting on Niall's feet. Plus if he sat at the end of the bed he was further away from Niall's shirtless chest.

"Feel like some light reading?" Harry asked, thrusting the sheets of paper torn from his notebook towards Niall.

Niall took the paper with a grin. "Sure mate. Someone sent ya a love poem?" 

"No no no," Harry said quickly. "I wrote a song."

Niall didn't reply. He had his head down, a little frown of concentration on his face. 

Harry waited anxiously, a lead balloon in his stomach, until finally Niall set down the song.

"Fucking fantastic," Niall said proudly. "It's a love song though, right? I hadn't seen anything in the papers about you having a new girl." And then he doubled over in laughter at his own joke. 

Harry didn't know what to say. Panicking he blurted out, "I mean it is. But it's not for anyone specific. I just um thought it would sound really good with your voice." The words came out so quickly and Harry realised that maybe Nick had been right.

This was definitely too much. 

Harry bolted up from Niall's bed. 

"So anyway just thought you might like to read it. I've got to get going..." 

Niall was just staring at Harry, his forehead crinkling.

"Bye!" Harry finished lamely, and with that he bolted off. 

 

-

 

Step five was fun, and probably necessary after the awkwardness of step four. 

Step five, which hopefully immediately lead onto step six, was go drinking with Niall.

The other boys all had plans. _Significant other_ plans. Which meant it was just Niall and Harry. 

"Let's go for a pint," Harry suggested. "There's a cool looking pub down the road.

"I could never turn down a drink," Niall said, shrugging his shoulders. "If that ever happens, just let me go."

So off for a pint they went. And then one pint turned into two, which turned into shots and everything was going perfectly.

 

-

 

Step six was a big one.

Monumental.

It was also the step Harry was looking forward to most, which was why he could hardly believe his luck when he actually made it happen.

Step six was giving Niall a blowjob. 

The drinking had lead to stumbling home drunk. And somehow Harry ended up in Harry's bed. Then they were making out. After that it was kind of a happy blur of Niall's penis and satisfied noises and the feel of Niall gripping Harry's hair as he came. 

Harry finished quickly, thrusting into his own hand. It was probably the lingering taste of Niall in his mouth that really pushed him over the edge. 

 

\--

 

Step seven was meant to be live happily ever after, sucking Niall's dick as much as possible.

Except that wasn't how it went down at all.

Harry woke up the next morning when the light started to filter through the curtains. 

He wriggled his toes contentedly against the expensive cotton sheets. It took a while for his body to come back to life. When he finally felt up to it, he rolled over to face Niall, who was still soundly asleep. 

"Hey," Harry croaked.

Niall shook his head, shaking strands of blonde hair out of his eyes. He seemed almost dazed. Probably just hungover, Harry thought. It had been a pretty big night.

But then Niall seemed to see Harry, really see Harry who was shirtless and in his bed and probably looked like he wanted to devour him, and his entire body froze. 

Harry's heart froze too. It seemed to stop thudding in his chest as he and Niall just stared at each other. 

Fuck.

Shit.

Fuck.

Niall opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again.

"Errr," Niall said, in a tone that Harry took to mean _I've made a huge mistake please get out of my bed_.

Harry's insides felt like they were collapsing in.This couldn't be happening. Except it was. He had made a huge mistake.

All he could think about was running way, before he ruined anything else. Obviously he had misread the signs and Niall didn't actually want him like that. Only Drunk Niall did. 

"Harry!" Niall called out, "Look it's..." His voice trailing off said it all though. 

So Harry found himself down on the street at seven thirty in the morning. He was in last night's clothes, which had happened before, but in the past he had never been so sad about it.

He stumbled along for a couple of blocks, stomping his feet against the pavement and trying to forget the look of horror in Niall's eyes until he reached an open coffee shop. 

Once safely inside, with a coffee in hand, he pulled out his phone and thumbed through his recent contacts until he found Grimy.

_i fucked up :(_

It took a few minutes before his phone buzzed in reply.

_I'm at work Styles. I can't always just drop my life for you_

Harry was about to send a txt just full of sad emojis when his phone buzzed again. 

_But what happened? Do you need me to come get you?_

nooooooo....i just messed things up with niall 

It'll be fine. Don't worry. And if he doesn't want you then just remember you're an international popstar. It's not like you're going to end up alone.

Harry didn't reply. Why was Nick being so dense? The whole point was that Harry didn't want anyone else.

 

He just wanted Niall.

 

\--

 

It was awkward for a week after that. Harry took to running away whenever Niall came within two feet of him. He also had a number of excuses already prepared. They ranged from I need to go borrow a scarf from Lou to let's have a band meeting! It was tough staying away, but Harry kept telling himself it was for the best.

Which was why he really wanted to set himself on fire the day Niall cornered him in a dressing one. 

Niall was all dressed up for the show and showered and clean and Harry wanted to rip that snapback off his head to run his fingers through his hair. 

He was also carrying a guitar. 

And looking awkward.

"Hey," he mumbled, trying to meet Harry's eyes.

"Hiii," Harry replied, his voice sounding entirely too high.

"Listen.. I er..." Niall straightened up and set the guitar in his arms. "Just listen."

And then Niall started to play his song. Well Harry's song, that he wrote for Niall.

Harry was quite proud that he managed to make it to the end of the song before wrestling the guitar out of Niall's hands.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this song ([x](http://drunkybuddha.tumblr.com/post/73590397187/if-you-were-mine-id-make-you-smile-with-all-my))
> 
> I'm not quite sure what this is, and I really apologise for the quality. Any issues are entirely my own, as no one read over it for me. And the characterisation too. But anyway hopefully someone enjoys it. I might look at doing some of this (the blowjob scene more explicitly) from Niall's POV if I can get the muse.
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://drunkybuddha.tumblr.com/) too. Thanks!


End file.
